Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz appeared before the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday for her appeal hearing regarding the annulment of her conviction in the Avenfield apartments reference case.
After the hearing, while talking to the media, Maryam said, “The man who had announced the conviction [in the Al Azizia reference] gave a statement expressing the truth about Nawaz Sharif in his life.”
“Today we have the third major testimony from within the judiciary after the testimonies of late accountability judge Arshad Malik and former Justice of the Islamabad High Court Shaukat Aziz,” said Maryam.
“Zaalim ki pakar bohat sakht hoti hai‘ (The punishment of a cruel person is very severe)”, said Maryam, adding, “They knew that the oppressors’ days [government] were numbered but didn’t expect the truth would come to light so soon.”
“I respect Ansar Abbasi, he is a credible journalist. Truth is not an insult,” she added while saying that Ansar has also spoken against PML-N.
“Whatever [Prime Minister] Imran Khan is doing to us that is all because of [Ex- Chief Justice of Pakistan] Saqib Nisar. He is the one who gave him ‘Sadiq and Amin’ title,” Maryam said and demanded a free and fair election.
Talking about her hearing, Maryam Nawaz said that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has asked for two weeks’ extension.
Maryam filed a new appeal on October 5 in the IHC seeking annulment of the verdict in the reference.
A day earlier, upon a question related to Maryam Nawaz’s petition, former President Asif Ali Zardari said he would not talk about it and referred to Maryam as his “daughter“.
Zardari said, “Maryam Nawaz is like a daughter to me. What comment should I make on my daughter?”
According to a copy of the petition available with Dawn, Maryam’s latest application was filed “in consequence of certain extremely relevant, simple and clear-cut facts which have come to light after the pronouncement of judgment and sentence” in the case.
In the petition, Maryam stated that the entire proceedings that resulted in her conviction were a “classic example of outright violations of law and political engineering hitherto unheard of in the history of Pakistan”.
In a hearing on October 13, her lawyer had argued that legal procedure was not followed in the reference. After the hearing, the court had directed NAB to present its arguments at the next hearing. The case was adjourned until November 17 (today).
